1. Technical Field
The invention relates to a drinking trough for, in particular, poultry, such as turkeys, chickens, chicks or the like, having at least one drinking valve, which is assigned to a water-supply line and has a valve pin which can be moved in order to discharge water, and having at least one water-collecting bowl assigned to the respective drinking valve, and to a method of converting the drinking trough once the animals have reached a certain age by exchanging a water-collecting bowl with a limited water-accommodating capacity which is provided for young animals for a water-collecting bowl with a greater water-accommodating capacity.
2. Prior Art
Drinking troughs of the type mentioned here allow animals, in particular poultry such as, for example, turkeys, hens, geese, ducks and also the young of the aforementioned animals, to obtain automatically the water they require. For this purpose, the drinking trough has an elongate water-supply line, to which a plurality of drinking valves are preferably connected at regular intervals. Each drinking valve is assigned a water-collecting bowl. Water discharged by the drinking valve, to be precise in particular splashed water which is not drunk directly, accumulates therein. As soon as most or all of the water supply in the water-collecting bowl has been used up, the animals can preferably open a respective drinking valve for a short period of time directly, by means of their beaks or bills, and drink the water directly.
The known drinking troughs of the type described above have proven successful for the most part for chickens, chicks and broilers. The known drinking troughs, however, have not proven successful for breeding and fattening turkeys. In particular young turkeys, namely chicks, are often not capable of actuating the drinking valves directly. It is problematic for young turkeys to obtain fully automatically via drinking valves the water they require. Moreover, the problems concerning the soiling of the water-collecting bowls and the splashing of water are more pronounced in the case of turkeys than in the case of other animals.
The object of the invention, then, is to provide a drinking trough, and a method of converting the same, by means of which the problems concerning soiling and water splashing are avoided in a relatively reliable manner and by means of which turkeys in particular, to be precise also turkey chicks, can automatically obtain the water they require to a sufficient extent, preferably throughout the breeding and fattening processes.